[steven]

There are a lot of Haiku like this, as you pointed out. There are also Japanese sayings called "kotowaza" (ことわざ). There are a ton of them, some of them very similar to those of other countries. It's fun to trace the origins of those types of phrases.

One of my favorite Kotowazas is
猿も木から落ちる (saru mo ki kara ochiru)
Which I guess would be
Even monkeys fall from trees (in English).

I think you can figure out the meaning for yourself, but to me it means that you should never get cocky... it also means that you shouldn't be discouraged when you make a mistake because even the pros will sometimes slip up.

Another one, that I don't particularly like is
石の上にも三年 (ishi no ue ni mo san nen)
Which I guess would be something like
Even if it's just a rock you're sitting on, you should do it for 3 years
Which is really trying to say:
Patients-persistance-endurance etc etc.

I know it's too old a phrase for this, but sometimes I wonder if it wasn't created to tell school kids who are sick of their clubs they've joined (which they incidently usually continue for 3 years). When I hear this phrase I think: I have better shit to do with my time than sit on a rock for three years... and to take it less literally, I think that while there is something to learn from everything, you shouldn't always let tradition stop you from doing what you feel.